Causeway to Neverwhere
by january sunshine
Summary: Ten years after the end of 02, the DigiDestined are living normal lives, but what happens when a few of their own are kidnapped? CHAPTER TWO UP! [First fic in years, and an authoress's apology and notice included!]
1. C1 Calls and Distractions

**The Authoress's Most Sincere of Apologies**

**and the whatnots**

O.M.G. I am so **very **sorry for what I've done to you all! Here I was, leaving you all in waiting, not updating my stories for the LONGEST time. I'm surprised I still received comments from a lot of you, wondering if I would update or something! I'm so sorry I haven't! I'm not quite sure I can.

As years passed, I continued writing and my style changed, and I realized that a lot of my stories had plot holes and parts irritated me. I wasn't sure I could continue them, and I highly doubt I will make my goal in finishing them and a new one by my high school graduation in May (so soon already, I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated!), but I can still try!

For you all, I've listed what I plan on doing with my unfinished fanfics. This list can also be seen in my profile area.

**List of Updates**

Insanity: Will be Continued. The ideas are currently in the process of organizing, and I started some sketches on what I plan on doing with it. I will indeed finish this.

Finding Love: I'm going to update this soon. I forgot where I had planned on going with this, but I plan on finishing it soon!

Don't Want to Be Here: I'm going to update this, I swear. YuGiOh drama is gonna get a hell of a lot funnier!

Rescuing Serena: I found a LOT of plot holes in this. I might rewrite it. If I don't, though, I might end up just writing a quick chapter or two to end it and be finished. I'm sorry, to fans of this, but I think it's going off the walls. I do like this, though, but if I end up finishing this, I might connect it with Insanity to see how it works.

Undying Passion: Gonna finish it, eventually.

_And my Latest Project, _Friends/Enemies 100: The Collection: In this, I'll have 100 fanfics centered around Taichi and Yamato (Taito, anyone?), and I'll get to posting them soon! They'll mainly be a set of one-shots, though I might write some with more than one chapter.

Well... now onto the new fic! So far, it's in its working stages, and I'm not sure where I want to take it, either, but if I work steadily enough, it'll be finished or something. I'm just hoping you like it. You'll need to know a few things for this fic, because it takes place in this futuristic universe.

**Story Background**

At the end of the Zero-Two series, the digidestined learned from Jennai that the digimon weren't fit to live in the human world for long. They found out that their digimon had lived in the human world for far too long, and would be be returned to their cycle of life and returning to Primary village. Not wanting to go through the loss, the digidestined decided to let their digimon stay in the digital world.

Now in the future, twenty years after they let their digimon return to their natural world, this fic takes place. The digidestined return constantly and spend time with their digimon, but now real life has become difficult to manage, balancing families, jobs, and social lives in the real world as well as their trips to the digital world.

Current scientific projects, such as Project DDM from Izumi Corporations, are working on a balance between atoms and data, in order to give digimon an easier time in the Human world, and vice versa, but that is all as of yet.

**Title Credits**

_"Causeway to neverwhere"_ is a line in a song by Coheed and Cambria.

"Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)", In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, Equal Vision/Columbia Records, 2004.

Now that's really it, on with the fic!

**Causeway to Neverwhere**

**Chapter One:_ Calls and Distractions_**

The living room phone rang, soon echoed by the phones in the kitchen, master bedroom, and back office. All of these sounds had startled both Miyako and the toddler on the ground next to her. Quickly, the woman bolted from her spot on the floor in the back bedroom and hurried to the nearest phone, in the kitchen. "Moshi moshi. Ichijouji Miyako desu," she answered calmly.

"Miya-chan, it's Mimi," the other voice spoke, sounding tired but excited. "How are you?"

"Just fine," Miyako replied, "a bit annoyed, but fine."

"Annoyed? With Sammy?" Mimi asked.

"Not with _her_, per se. She just cries so much, it's my fault I let her." She sighed softly, then spoke again. "And how--"

"That's not all, is it, Miya-chan?"

The younger one hesitated a moment, then sighed. "No. Ken was in another shoot-out."

Mimi almost dropped the phone, but before she was able to ask about it, a loud thud was heard, followed by the sound of crying on the other end. Quickly telling Mimi to hold on, Miyako set the phone down and rushed back into her daughter's room, to the small child sobbing on the carpeted floor. She picked up the girl and carried her to the kitchen, rocking and soothing her to hush a little before picking up the receiver again.

"Sorry about that," Miyako said. "Sammy started crying."

"Mama..." Samantha whispered, her small hands reaching up for the receiver. Miyako didn't notice.

Mimi smiled slightly. "Cute, you gave her an American name. But you were telling me about the shoot-out," she added quietly.

Miyako sighed softly. "Yeah... he took a bullet to the breastplate, but shot the guy," she replied. "He was fine, but it just worries me. Why do guys like these dangerous things?"

"Because guys like doing crazy things," Mimi replied. "That's one thing I'm glad Koushi--" Her phone went dead.

"Strange..." Miyako murmured, looking at her phone. Though Samantha held it also, the little one hadn't pushed any buttons. Something had most likely happened at Mimi's. Probably the cat. She hung up the phone and looked at her daughter, who stared up at her with her dark eyes. She had her father's eyes. Miyako smiled slightly at the girl. "You're the cutest, know that?" she said, kissing her child's forehead gently.

The small one giggled, then reached up again, this time grabbing at her mother's hair. "Mama! Joos..."

"Does my baby want some juice?" Miyako asked, making her way to the refrigerator. She pulled out a sippy cup still half-full with apple juice and handed it to Samantha, who smiled and immediately took the spout into her mouth, drinking away happily.

The phone rang again.

"That's probably Mimi," Miyako guessed.

"Aunt Mimi!" Samantha said anxiously over her drink cup. "Wanna answuh!" By the third ring, Miyako had held the receiver to her ear and she got to answer. "Moshi moshi, Ichijohji S'mantha desu!" she said, her voice slow and cautious. She smiled brightly as she looked up at her mother with a bright smile, proud of her response.

"Oh, you're so bright!" Miyako praised, giving the girl another kiss on the forehead.

"Konnichiwa, Sammy-chan!" the voice on the other end spoke to the toddler.

"Aunt Mimi!" exclaimed Samantha happily. "Hi!"

"Hi, sweetheart, how are you?"

She giggled, then hurried to shove the phone back to Miyako. The woman took the phone from the girl's ear and held it to her own. "Hey, Mimi. Sammy went to finish her juice."

"Oh yes, juice over family. But yeah... cat chewed the wires again. I think I'm going to have Kou-kun tape those down..."

"You should just train the cat," Miyako said. "Like a child. A smack when something goes wrong." She then laughed, Samantha staring wildly. "Kidding, my lovelies." Gently, she planted another kiss on her daughter's forehead.

Mimi laughed dryly. "I'll think about that, if you reconsider your sense of humor." She had moved to speak again when she heard three sharp taps on the other line. "You sound busy," she commented.

Miyako sighed. "You should visit me, these phone conversations aren't going to last. Be right back." She set the phone on the counter and walked to the door, opening it. "Konnichi--_waaaah!"_ She didn't return to the phone.

At the sound of the scream, followed by silence, Mimi knew something had happened. She set the phone down and hurried to her son's room, scooping the child into her arms. He had been taking his afternoon nap, curled up in his blue blanket, hugging his toy bunny tightly, but he stirred when he was fulled from his matress.

"Mommy?" he murmured sleepily.

"We're going out for a little bit, okay, Hiro-chan?" she said. She took him into the kitchen, letting him cling tiredly as she prepared two sippy-cups for him, throwing them into a diaper bag. Slipping on her flipflops, she grabbed her keys, locked her door, and hurried to her car.

By this point, her son was a bit concerned. He was still sleepy, but he watched her with a frown as she hooked him into his carseat. "Mommy, wha' 'appen?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"We're going to see if Auntie Miya is alright, okay?" she answered. "It might take a little while, though, and I can see that my little soldier is still pretty sleepy."

Hiroshi nodded, then yawned again, closing his eyes. He was stil holding his toy, still wrapped in his blanket. As long as he didn't worry, it was going to be okay. Mimi hopped into the car and took off.

**end of chapter one**

Okay, that's all for chapter one. Please, read and review, and I hope you all enjoy!

Sorry it's a bit on the short side, it'll get longer as I add more that I write, kay?

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Flames/Whatnots, Please review or email, feel free!

Thanks, and have a good life...?

Darkie.

**PS.** '07, biznatch!


	2. C2 A Fading Light

**Authoress's Note:** I realized that in Chapter one, I said it took place twenty years after they returned the digimon. That was the wrong number!

**Edit:** This Takes Place **Ten (10) **years after the digidestined return their digimon! To make the change a bit easier to clear up, I have attached ages:

Jyou: 28 / Michael, Yamato, Taichi, Sora: 27 / Mimi, Koushiro: 26 / Ken, Miyako, Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke: 23 / Iori: 19

Since there's really not much to say besides that, here's chapter two. Hope you all enjoy!

**Causeway to Neverwhere**

**Chapter Two:_ A fading light_**

She had decided to be brave for Daddy, hiding all fears of bright flashes or strangers as she clung to her mother, and he wrapped his arms around her. _Don't worry,_ he told her, _everything's okay, so long as we're here._ And she gave the biggest smile she could, showing maturity beyond her infant years to look adorable. The cameraman caught it, and the picture now hung in the living room. He passed it every day, and smiled at the picture. It was the prettiest he had ever seen his two lovely ladies.

But today, he frowned as his eyes landed upon the portrait. Samantha's and Miyako's twinkling hazel eyes, holding the same loving, playful twinkle glistening in the look. Neither of them greeted him when he entered that evening. No kisses or hugs or someone begging to play with him. No smiles and laughs.

No wife or daughter.

"--and that's all that happened," Mimi finished explaining to Ken again. The first time had been a brief explanation over the phone as she called him at work, when he immediately rushed over. Thirty-seven minutes since he had rushed home, and yet there were no tracks...

A phone in the kitchen remained off the hook, a sippy cup lay on its side by the front door. The door remained open as it had been the moment Mimi arrived, as the police took snapshots of the scene. There were a few other detectives listening as Mimi gave her testimony on the situation, but Ken didn't bother watching them scribble on their notebooks or flash cameras.

His wife and daughter were missing...

"Just... gone... because she answered the door?" he asked, still in a bit of disbelief.

Mimi sighed, patting Ken's shoulder. She sat next to him on the couch, with a kleenex in one hand, her other hand rubbing his shoulder. He knew she was upset about this, having been the last person she had talked to that day.

"I'm so sorry, Ken," she sighed softly.

He shook his head slightly, running a hand through his hair. "It's not your fault, Mimi-san," he replied. "Actually, I should be thanking you, you're my biggest help. Without you, I wouldn't've known."

He wouldn't've known at all if Mimi hadn't told him. He felt horrible, lacking that sort of 'bond' most couples said they had. A sixth sense, if possible, to know if something happened to his loved ones... and he wouldn't've known. She was in trouble, he was certain, but hopefully they were uninjured. After all, it was only... two hours...

Could he track them? Ken wanted to do something of importance. They weren't going to let him work on the case, too emotionally involved, but he would be informed... he needed to _do_ something of importance with the case.

An idea came, and Ken was immediately on his feet, walking quickly past friends and officers and straight into his dark bedroom. His hand clasped the device at the bedside table on his side, and he glanced towards hers. The digivices... hers wasn't where she left it, meaning she had it on her. He looked at his, pressing two buttons.

Mimi's footsteps shuffled into the room and she paused a few feet near him. "Ken-kun...?" she asked softly.

Ken nodded. "She always keeps it on her," he spoke. "I can usually find her..."

"Do they still work here?" Her eyes landed on the device and she watched him click to the map function.

"It had..." he spoke softly, "Before..."

The digital device emitted no signal.

Mimi sighed, looking at Ken once more, before glancing out towards the hallway, where she spotted Koushiro standing quietly, with the task of informing friends and family. In one hand, he held a cell phone at his ear. In his other arm, he held his two-year-old son, who clung tightly to him as if afraid of letting go. Seeing so many police officers scared the young child, and it didn't help that his father was rather anxious and his mother was consoling someone else.

"Daddy..." Hiroshi said softly. "Pwease, wha's goin' on?"

Koushiro sighed, speaking into the phone. "Sora-san, please tell Tai-kun for me. See you soon." He flipped the cell shut, ending the call, then turned to his son; the boy, with his wavy, strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes looked nothing like him, most of his features from his mother. But it was still his son, he always declared. The child nudged him.

"Okay, Hiro... somebody took Mommy and Daddy's friend," Koushiro finally explained, simply as he could.

"Auntie Miya, Daddy?" Hiroshi asked.

"And Samantha," added his father.

"Where did they take them?"

"That's what the police are here to find out."

"Why did they take them?"

"That's what Uncle Ken is going to find out."

Hiroshi seemed somewhat satisfied with his answers, and he returned his head to Koushiro's shoulder. He yawned softly, and Koushiro carried him outside of the apartment, to the small hall connecting the apartments on that floor, rocking Hiroshi as he began to sleep once more. For a little, he just rubbed the boy's back as he scanned the area, dark eyes searching for anything as he thought.

Just what could've taken them? And why? Koushiro remembered that Miyako had called him last week, telling him that she had received a few anonymous calls which irritated her, but there didn't seem to be any connection. He didn't know if that had any relevance, since he had received a few as well, his typical amount. His eyes turned downwards...

The corner of a white envelope stuck out from the welcome mat, black powder from the fingerprint dusting sprinkled on the corner. There were no fingerprints... He reached down calmly and pulled it from the mat. It was addressed to one person:

**To: Ken Ichijouji.**

Slipping it into his pocket, Koushiro couldn't help but cringe as he felt a warm drop of liquid land on shirt, soaking through to touch his shoulder. Hiroshi's clinging fingers had loosened and his breathing calmed, his mouth perched open as he drooled on his father. Glad to have gotten the boy back to sleep, he carried him back into the apartment.

Ken sat on his bed quietly, fumbling with the device, a screwdriver in one hand, as if he could make it work. Nothing was helping, there was no signal. Calm, quiet footsteps headed toward the indigo-haired officer, and the was pulled from one pocket and handed to him.

"What's this?" he whispered.

"Found it at the door. It's addressed to you."

_**Dear Ken, **_

**_Concerning your loved one... or ones, shall I say..._**

Ken frowned as he read the letter.

_**I can tell you that they are safe at the moment, and should remain in such condition unless needs are met. You should know I don't harm the innocent... **_

"Mommy?"

Her arms were empty. Though she couldn't see the scenery around her, she could feel the cold and camp ground beneath her, and the lack of a small weight in her arms. Slowly, she sat up, but her eyes wouldn't open. A cloth restraint... she could feel something tied over her eyes, preventing her from moving them, tightly held under her glasses.

A blindfold.

She lifted her hands, hearing the sound of metal jingling, the weight of cold metal about her wrists. She was chained...

_**Now, your wife is hardly considered innocent, but the child should remain unscathed so long as she does not provoke me.**_

"Samantha, sweetie, can you see me?"

The child's cool, small hands grabbed at the chains. "Yesh," she answered softly. "Mommy... is cold here..." She shifted a bit, moving closer to her mother, tiny hands moving to cling to the sweater her mother wore. Miyako gently lifted her arms, the rattling telling her what she already knew, as she moved her arms and shackles over her daughter.

"Don't worry," she said softly, "we'll be okay. Daddy's coming for us, it'll all be okay."

_**You have never been so irresponsible, except during your downfall as Kaiser. The Ken Ichijouji I knew had control of situations, and knew what was happening, enough to have a plan when something happened. Yet you let your family slip right through your fingertips.**_

Ken's eyes widened. A man had been watching him... knew of his past? He brought up the Kaiser... This was startling, knowing the man who knew his biggest mistake had hold of his greatest possessions.

Koushiro stood in front of him, staring towards the letter. He judged by his friend's expression that the news in the letter wasn't good at all. He could only wait as Ken continued to read.

"He knows," Ken whispered, "He knows who I am..."

_**They will be returned once you meet my needs.**_

Jyou bounded into the apartment, careful of the investigation as he hurried in. His face was flushed a bit from his running, and he looked irritated and a bit confused.

"Ken?" he called out. "Ken! Where are you?"

Ken finally pulled his eyes away from the letter. "Back here," he called. "In the bedroom."

The man ran into the room, then skidded to a stop in the doorway. He paused, breathing heavily, his hand holding up a cassette tape. "So I get these calls at work," he starts, panting a little.

"What's that?" Koushiro questions.

"And there's someone calling me, and my boss gets completely frustrated with me, and I answer and nobody's on the line. Happened three times. Then when I got to my car, I found this tape behind the windshield wipers... and then Mimi called my cell. and I hurried straight here."

Koushiro blinked, taking the tape from Jyou. Ken continued to stare at him for a moment, then pointed to a boombox near the dresser, before he dropped his head in his hands.

Clicks, shifting, then the tape began. A calm, low voice began to speak, though it sounded broken by the tape.

**"Digidestined... it has begun."**

**(. end . of . chapter . two .)**

Okay, you guys, there's chapter two! I hope you guys like it, I wrote a lot of random spoiler stuff in it. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Flames, feel free to email or review! Thanks, have a good night!

.Darkness Princess.


End file.
